Last week Bethesda's Pete Hines tweeted "Just sit tight. We'll have info soon" in response to concerns that the Xbox 360 exclusivity of Dawnguard had ended without word on plans for a PC edition of this DLC for The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim. Today he follows this will another tweet suggesting news on should come this week, saying: "Nothing has been said/announced about it. We should have info later this week." Thanks MCV.

They can make content for both platforms in a timely manner without "dismissing" anything so I'm not even sure why that is something you felt you had to point out. Companies do exclusive DLC like this because they get a fat sack of cash from Microsoft, there is no other legitimate reason. As for flying dragons and crazy mod things, many of them could be done on the 360 as is evidenced by the addition of several of them to the base game. The memory limits are more of a problem but that just rules out the more esoteric and visual mods.

Verno wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 15:43:Oblivion was a long time ago and comparisons between them aren't very relevant. Both Steam and DD in general have grown massively since then. Given the amount of post-release support and attention the PC version has been seeing (along with their vague praise about PC sales) I'd say the situation could potentially be that different.

Well that's good news then. I still however hold to the follow-up to my posts, which is that even if it's equal you still can't dismiss half the audience.

StingingVelvet wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 14:10:Yeah but every time DICE talked about Bad Company 2 and BF3 selling well on PC they also pointed out the Xbox version still sold considerably more. As for TES, Oblivion was said by Bethesda to have sold "many times over" more on Xbox. Could Skyrim be THAT different? I doubt it, but I guess stranger things have happened.

No actually what I recall them saying about BC2 was that the PC SKU sold on par with both consoles taken individually. Consoles together compromise a significant market portion. All I've heard anyone from EA or Dice say about BF3 is total sales. The PC audience is larger than you seem to give it credit. Consoles still make a shitload of money and the genre representation is better than the PC but the right combination of brand recognition, word of mouth and genre can make for an incredible seller on the PC platform.

Oblivion was a long time ago and comparisons between them aren't very relevant. Both Steam and DD in general have grown massively since then. Given the amount of post-release support and attention the PC version has been seeing (along with their vague praise about PC sales) I'd say the situation could potentially be that different.

Verno wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 13:08:As for wishful thinking, I don't know, this isn't an over the shoulder action game or something. It's a traditional PC franchise with a long standing community and great word of mouth to go along with extensive advertising both online and offline. Given the sheer breadth of the Steam platform these days I don't find it outside of the realm of reason that a PC version could perform up to a console SKU. Heck the recent BF games for example performed very well compared to their console counterparts individually and that was without the benefit of Steam.

Yeah but every time DICE talked about Bad Company 2 and BF3 selling well on PC they also pointed out the Xbox version still sold considerably more. As for TES, Oblivion was said by Bethesda to have sold "many times over" more on Xbox. Could Skyrim be THAT different? I doubt it, but I guess stranger things have happened.

I'm not saying the game didn't sell well on PC, I am saying the primary market is still Xbox and Xbox can't do the crazy shit a lot of the wacky mods do. Even if Xbox was 40% of the market they would still have to respect that and make the game work well on it.

StingingVelvet wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 12:44:Bethesda have made it very well known the Xbox version sells a lot more. Maybe Skyrim made more on PC than Oblivion did but the idea that it competes with the Xbox version is, in my mind, extremely wishful thinking

Where did they say that? First I've heard of it in reference to Skyrim and I think it'll come as a surprise to some here too. Anyway, it doesn't really change the fact that he wasn't being nitpicky to address a really vague claim.

As for wishful thinking, I don't know, this isn't an over the shoulder action game or something. It's a traditional PC franchise with a long standing community and great word of mouth to go along with extensive advertising both online and offline. Given the sheer breadth of the Steam platform these days I don't find it outside of the realm of reason that a PC version could perform up to a console SKU. Heck the recent BF games for example performed very well compared to their console counterparts individually and that was without the benefit of Steam.

StingingVelvet wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 02:17:'Cause ten times more isn't a popular way of saying a lot more, of course. That isn't some standard thing you would be a nitpicky person to come after.

No one even knows for sure what it actually sold so I don't think he's being pedantic. He was quoting kind of a ridiculous claim, it's not "nitpicky" to illustrate why.

Bethesda have made it very well known the Xbox version sells a lot more. Maybe Skyrim made more on PC than Oblivion did but the idea that it competes with the Xbox version is, in my mind, extremely wishful thinking.

Even if the PC version sold equally that's still half the market they have to consider that can't handle crazy dragon riding insanity.

2) Not everyone wants crazy shit in TES. I know a lot of mod-loving people think that is the reason the series is popular, but the fact the mod-absent versions sell 10 times more says otherwise. I like TES for immersive exploration and roleplaying, and flying dragon crazy shit yo is pretty opposite to that.

Ten times more? So if the PC version of Skyrim sold 1 million, that means the PS3 and X360 versions sold 10 million?

'Cause ten times more isn't a popular way of saying a lot more, of course. That isn't some standard thing you would be a nitpicky person to come after.

Nope.

The fundamental issue still remains. You don't know anything about the platform-specific sales of Skyrim. For all you know, the PC version could have sold as well as both the X360 and PS3 versions combined. Given the growing popularity of PC gaming and Skyrim's seemingly permanent place on Steam's top 10 chart, that wouldn't be impossible. Also, the PC version of Skyrim has received more post-release support than any previous Bethesda game. In addition, Todd Howard referenced the "millions" of PC fans playing Skyrim during a press conference.

2) Not everyone wants crazy shit in TES. I know a lot of mod-loving people think that is the reason the series is popular, but the fact the mod-absent versions sell 10 times more says otherwise. I like TES for immersive exploration and roleplaying, and flying dragon crazy shit yo is pretty opposite to that.

Ten times more? So if the PC version of Skyrim sold 1 million, that means the PS3 and X360 versions sold 10 million?

'Cause ten times more isn't a popular way of saying a lot more, of course. That isn't some standard thing you would be a nitpicky person to come after.

2) Not everyone wants crazy shit in TES. I know a lot of mod-loving people think that is the reason the series is popular, but the fact the mod-absent versions sell 10 times more says otherwise. I like TES for immersive exploration and roleplaying, and flying dragon crazy shit yo is pretty opposite to that.

Ten times more? So if the PC version of Skyrim sold 1 million, that means the PS3 and X360 versions sold 10 million?

It looks like an over-sight. They forgot about it and forgot someone might ask. They are going to have to have a meeting figure it out and get back to us later this week, because right now, they don't know. It was an oopsi.

Tumbler wrote on Jul 30, 2012, 15:41:Seems like the Steamworks content available is far more interesting than this expansion.

Where are my fucking dragon mounts Bethesda? Why did you make something with Vampires? Who gives a shit about Vampires?! This game is about DRAGONS. Give us some fucking dragons to play with!!!

And flying mounts! I want to play joust in the sky with my flying horse and a Dragon! And I want to ride dragons where I straff downs and drown them in fire! I want to hear stories in the nearby town about how my actions! Did you hear about the dragon? It killed everyone in Greenwood! Or if someone saw you riding the dragon then maybe the whole town would run from you screaming, "It's the dragon rider!!!" And guards would attack you for your crimes!

This shit writes itself Bethesda, why on earth did you make some stupid expansions about vampires?!

Two reasons:

1) Harder to do on consoles, the crazy shit tends to break the engine with those RAM limitations. And yes, of course, they have to consider the vast majority of their audience.

2) Not everyone wants crazy shit in TES. I know a lot of mod-loving people think that is the reason the series is popular, but the fact the mod-absent versions sell 10 times more says otherwise. I like TES for immersive exploration and roleplaying, and flying dragon crazy shit yo is pretty opposite to that.

Tumbler wrote on Jul 30, 2012, 15:41:This shit writes itself Bethesda, why on earth did you make some stupid expansions about vampires?!

Because Vampires are soooooo hip right now! All the tween girls giggle and swoon over vampires!!!

Creston

But do they sparkle?

The Skyrim vampires suck so badly! You get some extra powers which are completely useless since powers flow like water. You're barely stronger than normal and the negatives far outweight the positives. You should feel much stronger when you're a vampire, like in the previous elder scrolls... I mean, you don't take damage from the sun! wtf. As far as I can tell, they do sparkle. Apparently it's the same thing in the expansion. At least you can kill them.

Yeah, dinky little "expansions" like this might be okay if they were churning them out much more often, as they did with Fallout 3. But if "taking our time to make something more substantial" means 9 months of waiting for two hours of new content, what's the point?